FIGS. 30 and 31 of this specification show conventional male and female connectors 250 and 254 in a state prior to their being fitted together. The female connector 250 shown on the left hand side in the diagrams comprises a female connector housing 251 in which a female terminal fitting 253 is housed, and a pair of upper and lower retainers 252. The female terminal fitting 253 is retained by means of a lance 258, the retainers 252 serve to doubly stop the fitting 253, in a conventional manner, and have respective fitting protrusions 252A engaged with the female terminal fittings 253 to hold them in an unremovable state.
The male connector 254 also has a retainer 257 for doubly stopping a male terminal fitting 255. Furthermore, a hood member 259 is formed at its anterior end, this hood member being larger than the posterior side and serving to protect the terminal fitting 255. Consequently, in the case where the retainer 257 has not been pushed in to its correct position, it lies above the surface of the connector housing 256 and can be visually detected. However since this detection is visual, there is a possibility of the half-fitted state being overlooked. On the other hand, in the case of the female connector 250, during the fitting of the male and female connectors 250 and 254, a half-fitted retainer 252 will interfere with the open edge of the hood member 259 thereby preventing further insertion. In this manner the half-fitted state of the retainer 252 can be reliably detected.
Thus, in the case of the male connector 254, if the retainer 257 is in the half-fitted state, only a visual detection is possible. For this reason, in the conventional case, there is a loss of balance in the detection of the half-fitted state of the retainer with respect to the male connector 254 and the female connector 250.
The present invention has been developed after taking these problems into consideration, and aims to present a connector wherein the half-fitted state of a terminal fitting in the male connector is detected with the same certainty as in the case of the female connector.